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Even if the current drought can't be linked to climate change, the results of 24 different climate models all point to the same thing: As the planet warms, subtropical dry zones will spread.

Climate change might not have caused the current drought, but it will almost certainly make future droughts worse.

Image: Predictions of the difference between precipitation and evaporation, 2021-2040./PNAS.

Citation: "Future dryness in the southwest US and the hydrology of the early 21st century drought." By Daniel R. Cayan, Tapash Das, David W. Pierce, Tim P. Barnett, Mary Tyree, Alexander Gershunov. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 107 No. 50, December 14, 2010.

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